To paint or not to paint...

So, putting aside all the controversy for the moment...

Most of you will not know that, apart from my day job, I am also a self-employed artist. I paint almost exclusively in acrylics on canvas and have sold my work online and at craft fairs since 2008.
Sadly, I don't have as much time to paint these days and am a little bit out of practice. However, I have 3 commissions which I must finish for friends in the near future. After that I am considering tackling a portrait of Richard III, taking into consideration the new facial reconstruction.

My interest in art began at a very young age as my father was a brilliant artist. He paid such attention to the tiniest detail and taught me to draw as realistically as possible. He never approved of 'modern' art, an opinion I share with him for the most part. I love visiting galleries and particularly the big portrait galleries, there is something amazing about seeing the amazing work of the old Masters close up. I try to study their compositions, colours, techniques etc and try to work out how they painted such tiny details as lace and jewellery. Also how they got the likeness of the features such as eyes and hair.

As an old goth myself, I am lucky enough to have many friends with some fabulous outfits, a selection of which are shown below.

As much as I love portrait painting, I also enjoy painting landscapes. Most of my artwork is based on photographs I have been sent for commissions or that I have taken myself, like the ones of Edinburgh Castle in the snow. I painted those when I lived in Edinburgh 2 or 3 years ago.

                                                                                                                 

Princes Street, Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle

I was interested to recently see 3 different paintings based on portraits of Richard III in the Cathedral.

This set me thinking what it would be like to try and paint one that might do justice to the new image of Richard we have now available, thanks to the amazing facial reconstruction created by Professor Caroline Wilkinson and her team at the University of Dundee.

It would be the biggest challenge I have taken on as an artist, but I am certainly interested to see if I could produce such a portrait. Watch this space!